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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 

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I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



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The People of this Country should insist upon the Continuance 
OF the Protective Policy, under which all American Industries 
ARE Reviving and the Hard Times are Passing Away. 






PROCEEDINGS 



CONVENTION 



IRON AND STEEL MANUFACTURERS 



IRON ORE PRODUCERS, 



AT PITTSBURGH, 



TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1879. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION, 
, No. 265 South Fourth Street. 
1879. 






INDEX 



PAGE 



Address of the President, Mr. Moeeell, 3 

Paper BY Joseph Wharton-" The American Ironmaster," . 15 

Paper by A. B. Stone-" How Protection Protects," ... 24 

The United States Tinplate Industry, .... 31 
Eeport op the Committee on Resolutions, 



37 



c;?<^y^ 



PROCEEDINGS. 



The meeting was called to order, at 10.30 A. M., in the hall 
of the Western Iron Association, by Mr, William P. Shinn, upon 
whose motion Hon. Daniel J. Morrell, of Johnstown, Pa., the 
President of the American Iron and Steel Association, took the 
chair as presiding officer. Messrs. James M. Swank and Joseph D. 
Weeks were appointed Secretaries. The call for the meeting was 
read, as follows : 

Office of the American Iron and Steel Association^ | 
Philadelphia, March 26, 1879. J 

In accordance with a resolution of the Board of Managers of the American Iron and 
Steel Association, the undersigned requests all Manufacturers of Iron and Steel and all 
Iron Ore Producers in the United States to meet in convention at Pittsburgh, on Tues- 
day, the 6th day of May next, at 10 o'clock, A. M., in the hall of the Western Iron 
Association and the Western Nail Association, to consider the present condition of our 
Iron and Steel Industries, their wants, and the dangers which threaten them. Many 
years have elapsed since a similar convention was held. It is believed that great good 
may result from more frequent conferences between representatives of such important 
industries, and the American Iron and Steel Association talces the initiative in promot- 
ing a full and free exchange of opinions by all Iron and Steel Manufacturers and Iron 
Ore Producers, whether members of the Association or not. A full attendance at the 
time and place above named is most earnestly invited. D. J. MORRELL, 

President of The American Iron and Steel Association. 

After the reading of the call the President delivered the follow- 
ing address : 

ADDRESS OF HON. DANIEL J. MORRELL, PRESIDENT OF THE 
AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION. 

Gentlemen : At a meeting of the American Iron and Steel 
Association, held at its rooms in Philadelphia, on the 6th day of 
March last, it was resolved that a general meeting of the members 
should be held at least once in each year, at a time and place to be 
designated by the executive committee. Pittsburgh was selected a.s 
the place for a meeting to be held in the present month of May, 
and the president was requested to issue a call inviting the presence 
and co-operation at this meeting of manufacturers of iron and steel 
and producers of iron ore throughout the United States. This 

(3) 



ZtZt ''f "/"f ^^— Wy is a gratifying response to that 
ZaTL .V, '''*"''^' " J"=' appreeiation of the labors of the Asso- 
ciation for the eommon welfare, and I sineerely hope will rive it 
strength for continued and still greater usefulness. ^ 

mentTf"ritt° '•'? "'■ ^' ' "'"'^^^ '° "'« '"=-"Wul develop- 
a geneial recognition of this faet. Owing to the extent of our 

t^r'^f '^t-T/'f™'' "--» ^■■^■'=-»^^">- the'::;ir 

orZizatio , wf '"* "''"*"^' y^' °" »"diti„n renders 
mfkeXen, T" ""''"'"'y- 0'-g'""^="i»n and association 

make the managers of an industry personally known to each other- 
jealousies are removed ; eonfldeuce is promoted ,- a true commnn ty' 
of intereste 13 established and recognized, and tL harsher f^at 2 
of competition are mitigated. Experience everywhere shows ha 
^oeiation ,s most effective in securing the respect of powe« 
which ^„, ^^^^^^ ^jj ^^^^^^^ j^^^ P ^ regulatirn on 

which the prosperity or even the existence of industries may de- 
pend; and only through this medium can accurate statistics of pro- 

TheTislo^fT"'-""'-"^' '""' ''' ""'"'''' ""^ disseminaL. 
Ihe I St of American mdnstries organized for general and not for 
specia purposes is comp.aratively small, yet it fairly includes the 

of wTo M, f r ^™"nT' "'" ""^' '^ ^ ^'"■""^l A.,soeiation 
of Wool Manufacturers. The manufacturing chemists have a most 

luZTonr^T- ^l'" ^'"' "-"'-'—. owing to the locali- 
wWeh / ' " ^^ ^^' ''"' " ""'"P""' "'"^ 1">"«*1 association, 

Po tt-s a"'"'-\' """ '"""'™' '"'''«"'^^- The United State 
wh te Ld r "%"?'"' ™' '■^^P^^'^''' - "1™ « "=at of the 
white 1 ad makers; and there are doubtless other organizations that 
I do not now remember. An organization of the textile mannfae- 
turers having its seat at Philadelphia, and one of the flax industry 

been the fate of other associations of the kind. 

HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

Of ^.tlw IT^^ ""'"'"^ '^ '^' "'°" '''^' °f ^^^^ United States, 
iLq ? ''''^ ''''''^' ""^^ '^^^""'^ °^ the 6th day of December 

1 49, to meet at Philadelphia on the 20th day of the same ZtT 
to consider the existing depression in the iron industry and to 
appeal to Congress for relief through a revision of the tariff." The 
meetmg, which was held in the chamber of the Board of Trade 



was largely attended by manufacturers and dealers in iron: after 
reading the reports of committees and appointing a general commit- 
tee to further its purposes it adjourned sine die. Its proceedings 
were published in book form and were of interest and permanent 
value. 

For a period of more than five years no further movement of 
importance occurred, but the reasons for organization constantly 
became more urgent, and finally, on the 6th day of March, 1855, 
the American Iron Association was organized in Philadelphia. 
Hon. George N. Eckert, of Reading, Pa., was chosen president ; 
Gen. James Irvin and John H. Towne, vice-presidents ; Charles E. 
Smith, treasurer; and J. P. Lesley, secretary. The ofiice of the 
Association was established at Philadelphia, and a constitution was 
adopted from which I quote the first article, as follows : 

The general objects of this Association shall be to procure, regularly, the 
statistics of the trade both at home and abroad ; to provide for the mutual 
interchange of information and experience, both scientific and practical ; to 
collect and preserve all works relating to iron and steel, and to form a com- 
plete cabinet of ores, limestones, and coals ; to encourage the formation of such 
schools as are designed to give tlie young iron-master a proper and thorough 
scientific training, preparatory to engaging in practical operations ; and, gen- 
erally, to take all proper measures for advancing the interests of the trade in 
all its branches. 

The Association thus organized continued in active existence 
until 1859, having a life of four years, during which time much 
valuable work was done by it. " The Iron Manufacturers' Guide to 
the Iron Works and Iron Ore Mines of the United States," com- 
piled by the secretary. Professor J. P. Lesley, was a work of which 
the American iron trade stood in great need and of which it had 
and still has just reason to be proud. It contained about eight 
hundred printed pages, and was published in 1859, but the Ameri- 
can Iron Association appears to have died in giving it birth, as 
I find no record of any work being done by it after the annual 
meeting held on March 16th of that year. Thenceforward, until 
1864, the iron and steel manufacturers of the country appear to 
have been without a national organization for any purpose. 

On the 19th day of October, 1864, a number of iron manufac- 
turers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ken- 
tucky, New Jersey, Missouri, and Maryland met in Philadelphia, 
and determined to invite the iron and steel makers of the United 
States to meet together for the purpose of considering a plan of or- 



ganizatiou, "whereby the whole American iron interest might be 
jjromoted, and each branch known and cared for." A letter of in- 
vitation was issued on the 1st day of November, calling a meeting 
on the 16th day of that month, at the Board of Trade Rooms 
in Philadelphia, which assembled accordingly and organized the 
American Iron and Steel Association, which has ever since main- 
tained a healthy and active existence, with a history of work done 
and results accomplished which is known to many of you, and of 
which all have reaped the benefits. Captain Eber B. Ward, of De- 
troit, was chosen president of the meeting ; William B. Ogden, of 
Chicago, vice-president; and E. Y. Townsend, of Philadelphia, and 
Thomas S. Blair, of Pittsburgh, secretaries. The meeting continued 
its deliberations through the day and evening, and on the morning 
of the 17th; a constitution was adopted, the first article of which 
was a verbatim copy of the first article of the American Iron As- 
sociation, which I have read to you. The office of the Association 
was established at Philadelphia, and a board of thirty managers 
was elected, which selected the following permanent officers of the 
Association: President, Captain E. B. Ward; vice-presidents, Sam- 
uel J. Reeves, Abram S. Hewitt, James M. Cooper, Charles S. 
Wood, and Joseph H. Scranton ; treasurer, Charles Wheeler; and 
secretary, Robert H. Lamborn. Captain Ward remained president 
until 1869, when, at the annual meeting, on February 18th, he de- 
clined a re-election, and was succeeded by the late and lamented 
president, Samuel J. Reeves. 

Captain Ward remained an active member and manager of the 
Association until his death, which took place at his home on the 2d 
day of January, 1875, from an attack of apoplexy. He was born 
in Canada on Christmas, 1811, his parents being American citizens 
who had emigrated from Vermont. Mr. Reeves continued to be 
the president of the Association from February 18th, 1869, until 
December 15th, 1878, when his long and honorable career as an 
American iron-master was terminated by his death at his home in 
Phoenixville, Pa., caused by a pulmonary complaint. He was born 
at Bridgeton, New Jersey, in 1818, and was the son of David 
Reeves, well known for many years as one of the most progressive 
and distinguished of American iron-masters. Captain E. B. Ward 
and Samuel J. Reeves were gentlemen too well and widely known 
to require any eulogy from me, but, having been favored with their 
confidence and friendship for the quarter of a century during which 
I have been connected with the iron business, I can not refrain from 



expressing my sincere appreciation of their great merits and of the 
loss sustained in their death not only by this Association but also 
by all whose privilege it was to know them. 

The American Iron and Steel Association is now a recognized 
authority in all matters connected with the trade, and is consulted 
by Congressmen and Government officials at home, and by persons 
in all countries who desire accurate information concerning our 
special industries. Its work is properly divisible into five branches, 
as follows: 1st. Statistical, which takes shape annually in a re- 
port by the secretary. 2d. The frequent revision and publica- 
tion of a directory to all the iron and steel works in the United 
States. 3d. The publication and free distribution of the Bulletin. 
4th. Educational and special work, such as watching legislation, 
and looking after the decisions of the Treasury Department upon 
questions affecting the interests of the trade ; the publication and 
distribution of pamphlets and other documents, etc., etc. 5th. The 
maintenance of a bureau of general information, and a place of 
general resort for iron and steel manufacturers. The office of the 
Association is centrally located in Philadelphia, is tastefully but 
plainly furnished, and is daily open to members and all engaged in 
the iron trade. A library of several hundred volumes has been 
accumulated by purchase and exchange, and all the leading trade 
and scientific journals of this country and Europe are constantly 
on file : these are open to all members and others engaged in the 
business of making or selling iron and steel. The present mem- 
bership of the Association is composed of over two hundred firms 
and individual manufacturers, and of about fifty dealers in iron 
and steel, iron ore, etc. All dues are payable to the treasurer, 
Charles Wheeler, Esq., of Philadelphia, and all money of the As- 
sociation is disbursed by him on the order of the auditing com- 
mittee, on vouchers presented by the secretary. 

The Annual Report of the Association is sent to all members of 
Congress and to Cabinet officers, and during the sessions of Con- 
gress the Bulletin, the weekly publication of which was commenced 
in September, 1866, is frequently sent to the members of both 
Houses. The Report and the Bulletin and all other publications 
of the Association are also regularly sent to many of the leading 
newspapers of this and foreign countries, and to the officers of 
scientific associations the world over. 

The work of the Association has a broader purpose than merely 
looking after the special interests of the iron trade. It is in friendly 



intercourse and co-operation Avith all other organized industries, 
especially upon tariff questions, and it is enabled to interchange 
statistics with similar bodies and leading scientists in foreign coun- 
tries, where its reports, as I have had opportunity to know, are rec- 
ognized as of final authority. It has nothing whatever to do with 
the regulation of prices or wages, and its labors are not more for 
the benefit of employers than of workingmeu. It has never sought 
a special privilege; never made bargains with hostile powers for 
rights or immunities of any kind ; and has asked for no advantage 
to the iron trade which would not be for the benefit of the whole 
country. 

With a hungry, vigilant, and unscrupulous foreign rival opera- 
ting through American brokers and agents upon Congress and 
revenue officers, it stands us in hand to be equally watchful and 
active, and this work requires money. We use and depend upon 
facts and the logic of common sense for the education of the people 
and of Congress upon the subject of Protection to American Indus- 
try, a work which we make as inexpensive as possible. 

THE PRESENT BUSINESS SITUATION. 

In considering the present business situation I presume that you 
will agree wdth me in the opinion that the long continued down- 
ward tendency of prices in our trade has been arrested, and that 
there are unmistakable indications, although as yet feeble, of a re- 
turning tide of business activity and prosperity. We may not 
anticipate rapid advances in prices, or great gains in business opera- 
tions, yet if we utilize the experience of the past five years, and 
advance with firmness and caution, we may reasonably anticipate 
employment for all at living rates. The immense strain to which 
manufacturers have been subjected is shown by the fact that a 
shrinkage in the selling prices of iron and steel rails, which fairly 
represent the general trade in metals, during the five years ending 
with ] 878 has been as follows : 

] 874 as compared with 1873, decline of 19.75 per cent. 

1875 " " 1874, " 21.40 

1876 " " 1875, " 20.00 

1877 " " 1876, " 20.75 

1878 " " 1877, " 12.75 

The actual discount from the average prices of 1873 to the aver- 
age prices of 1878 is Q-irs^ per cent., or very nearly two-thirds off. 



The successive reductions since the panic have been harassing and 
depleting to all, and in cases where materials were held on credit 
they were absolutely ruinous. A vast amoviut of invested capital 
has been rendered of little value, or wholly lost, the apparent gains 
of the period of inflation having been swept away ; and it is very 
certain that, taking the ten years just closed, in which we have seen 
the highest and lowest prices ever known in our trade, the average 
gains of iron and steel manufacturers have not exceeded simple 
interest on the capital invested. 

Will the lessons to be drawn from this history soon be forgotten ? 
Will there in the future be more caution in prosperity and more 
courage in adversity? Who can answer? Above all, will it be 
taken seriously to heart, and constantly borne in mind, that all 
debt beyond available means on hand at the time of contracting 
it is always dangerous, whether it be individual, corporate, munici- 
pal, or national ? 

The Report of the secretary of the Association, which will be pre- 
sented to you, gives the statistics and present condition of the trade, 
and affords reliable data for the discussion of the prospects, aims, 
and needs of the future. Special topics have been committed to 
members of the Association with the request that they prepare 
papers to be read before you, and it may be in place for me to sug- 
gest other subjects the discussion of which may be profitable. 

Confusion arises from the use of both the long and short ton in 
business operations and in statistical reports. Most of us buy and 
sell by the long ton, but freights are paid on the short ton. The 
reports of the Association use the short ton, adopted by a resolution 
of the Association many years ago because of its greater conveni- 
ence, yet the statistics of other countries with which we come in 
competition are in long tons, and all our quotations of prices have 
to be made in the long ton. It would be a relief if we could 
modify the business custom so that all our operations would recog- 
nize only the American ton of two thousand pounds. 

The subject of transportation is of great importance, as its ex- 
pense constitutes about one-third of the whole cost of the less ad- 
vanced forms of iron and steel. In this respect our country is at a 
disadvantage as compared with other industrial nations which have 
a less extent of territory, in which raw materials are found in conti- 
guity, or which have ocean and inland water transportation. The 
managers of our railroads have generally shown that they under- 
stand the importance of the traffic thrown upon their lines by man- 



10 



ufacturing industries, but their rivalries for distant traffic and certain 
kinds of freights, which they compel each other to carry at losing 
rates, cast an additional burden upon local business, and often ope- 
rate to the serious detriment of their most reliable customers. We 
as manufacturers are not so much wronged by- the high freights we 
are compelled to pay as by the low rates given to importers and to 
the manufacturers of competing products who are fortunate enough 
to be located at points affected by the rivalry of lines of transpoi'- 
tation. It is doubtful if this system of railroad competition, which 
compels local traffic to pay for the losses incurred in a ruinous strife 
for what is called through business, can be much longer maintained ; 
and it is certain that any change which will bring about equitable 
charges from and to all points will be as beneficial to the owners of 
railroad property as to the public at large. 

Guarantees and tests of articles sold are questions of general in- 
terest, but may be more profitably considered in the several trade 
organizations represented in this Association. It is very desirable 
that uniform guarantees shall be adopted, which, without imposing 
unreasonable obligations, will insure a standard of good quality 
and workmanship to be respected by all manufacturers of similar 
products. 

Your attention has doubtless been attracted by a large purchase 
of English Bessemer rails by the New York Central and Hudson 
River Railroad Company, at a price largely in excess of current 
rates here, and you have seen the reasons put forth as its justifica- 
tion. Having been appealed to for information, I have not hesi- 
tated to denounce as false and slanderous the allegation that the 
utmost endurance of American steel rails is but five years, and that 
they are commonly inferior to rails made in England. I allude to 
the subject here as the whole trade has a common interest in main- 
taining the well-deserved reputation earned by the American manu- 
facturers of Bessemer rails; and also for the reason that this assault 
upon them may be regarded as a part of a scheme to break down 
the Protective policy of the countiy, which to-day is the sole guar- 
antee of the continued existence of the great and growing industry 
which has placed within the reach of American consumers better 
and cheaper iron and steel than they ever before enjoyed. If duties 
were removed, and home production crushed out, how long Avould 
it be before our foreign competitors would compel our roads to pay 
dearly for their rails? The answer may be inferred from the history 
of the past ten years, which is familiar to you all. 



11 



When the cost of living is taken into account, the condition of 
our workmen, at current wages, is in the main comfortable, and a 
rapid improvement can not be expected. While the demand for 
most products is increasing, prices remain almost at the lowest 
point, and there is still a large productive capacity of machinery 
and works unemployed. 

From personal observation abroad I can say that the suffering 
from industrial stagnation has been generally much greater else- 
where than here, and in England it still continues with unabated 
intensity. Successive reductions in wages have been enforced upon 
English workingmen, and strenuous efforts are now being made by 
manufacturers to so far cheapen their products as to recover the 
ground they have partially lost in the markets of the world. This 
condition of things is a perpetual threat against the industries of 
all other nations, and especially our own, and we must continue to 
practice the hard but salutary lesson taught by adversity. Manu- 
facturers must be content with small profits; workingmen must 
still practice thrift and economy. An advantage we possess is to be 
found in the superior intelligence in all ranks of American labor 
Abroad the workingman holds but a low place in the social scale, 
and the blind animosity which he sometimes displays in fruitless 
contests with his employer can readily be accounted for. In this 
country, fortunately, the conditions are different, and it is the in- 
terest of all to keep them so. Abroad labor belongs only to a class ; 
in this country all are Avorkers. Such wealth as brings exemption 
from the active operations and cares of life is the lot here of but 
few ; it is never a benefit, and is fortunately of but short continu- 
ance. All efforts to organize and array men of any occupation 
against their employers, against society, or against the laws of the 
land, are grave mistakes, and can never be permanently successful. 
They may for a brief time accomplish so much of their injurious 
purposes as to do away with that mutual respect and confidence 
which should exist between employer and employed, and which 
would insure fair dealing and justice on both sides, with the inter- 
change of personal kindness which always grows up where men 
meet each other without prejudice. 

The Iron and Steel Association, as I have before said, has 
nothing to do with the regulations of prices or wages, yet it exer- 
cises a wholesome influence by placing within the reach of iron- 
workers accurate statistics of their trade at home and abroad, from 
which they may form an intelligent judgment upon all matters 



12 



affecting their employment and its rewards. Ignorance causes 
most of the troubles which arise in business and society. Manu- 
facturers will find it to their interest to provide night schools, 
libraries, lectures, and other educational advantages for the youths 
growing up about their works, and the publications of this Associ- 
ation may be distributed among them with great benefit. 

THE PROTECTIVE POLICY. 

Recent advices from Washington and New York admonish us 
that agents of our principal trade rival, both in and out of Con- 
gress, are pressing to renew the struggle for the passage of a bill 
reducing the tariff* as soon as there is a commencement of the work 
of general legislation. Indeed, I have reason to know that foreign 
agents are already here, and that American traders, who care more 
for the profits they hope to make in selling foreign iron and steel 
than for the interests of their own country, are co-operating with 
them to break down the American tariff". It is of no consequence 
to these men that the whole country deprecates the agitation they 
are starting, that no American interest has asked for it, and that 
there has been a general protest against it, in which even professed 
Free Traders were obliged to join. They appear not to know nor to 
care for the fact that under our present system our foreign debt is 
being rapidly paid off"; that our industries are reviving ; that the 
American consumer was never before so well and cheaply served ; 
that American manufactures are making a place in the markets of 
the world, while our principal rival, Great Britain, is in the depths 
of despondency ; and that, even in England, our comparative pros- 
perity is attributed to the Protective policy of our Government, 
while England's calamities are admitted to be the result of Free 
Trade. They appear not to know nor to care for the example of 
Germany, the English Colonies, Russia, and other countries, which 
have recently declared in favor of Protection to Native Industries. 
They do not seem to know that the arguments heretofore used 
against the tariff" have been confuted by the progress of events, and 
that the facts or fictions cited to sustain them no longer exist, even 
in a healthy imagination ; and when the subject of a change in our 
tariff" comes up again for discussion we shall have volumes of 
speeches asserting that customs duties are a tax upon the consumer, 
the duty being invariably added to the price, not only of the im- 
ported article but also of the home product ; that the tariff" is an 



13 



injury to the farmer and to the workiugmau, and that under it the 
country can never acquire an export trade. 

These men are like those of okl, of whom it was said that, " hav- 
ing eyes they see not, and having ears they hear not." They are 
dangerous, because behind them is an unscrupulous foreign power, 
which is always ready to use any and every means to break down 
the customs barriers of this and other countries, and which power 
is now or is soon likely to be in the most desperate straits if its 
efforts for our overthrow are not successful. 

The merits of the controversy should be apparent from a glance 
at the opposing forces. On one side we see a handful of foreign 
agents and brokers, residing temporarily among us, who deal in 
the products of foreign labor, or earn a commission upon their sale, 
the proceeds being sent abroad for distribution ; on the other side 
we have a large number of American manufacturers, employing a 
multitude of workingmen, citizens and tax-payers, the source of the 
country's prosperity in peace and its arm of defence in time of war. 

This Association should in an earnest and dignified manner pro- 
test against the method of tariff revision by bills secretly prepared 
by employes of foreign interests, and demand that the subject 
shall be entrusted to a commission, not of owl-eyed college pro- 
fessors, but of business men and statesmen, appointed by the 
President of the United States, with instructions and authority to 
ascertain the condition and wants of all our industries, and to 
examine the tariff legislation of this and other countries with 
reference to its influence upon national welfare ; and demand also 
that Congress shall refrain from legislation upon the subject until 
the presentation of the report of this commission. If no other 
good results from this, we shall at least have what the country 
most needs — a little rest. 

The importance of presenting a united front against the enemies 
of our industry was never greater than at the present time, and to 
do this the American Iron and Steel Association should be en- 
larged and strengthened and rendered more efficient. Every mem- 
ber of the trade should be a member of the Association, and the 
mining interest, which depends for its success upon our prosperity, 
should co-operate with us. The burden, which will be lightened 
when shared by all, should be taken along with the benefit, which 
has been and will be great. Statistics asked for by the secretary, 
the details of which are seen only by him, should be promptly 
furnished, and dues should be promptly paid. Loyalty to the 



14 



Association and a common support of its labors will tend to elevate 
the iron and steel trade and improve its members. We will have 
more confidence in each other, and our intercourse and communica- 
tions will be characterized by greater frankness and fairness. The 
bad faith which has been complained of in the separate trade 
organizations, the existence or even the suspicion of which injures 
their influence, will no longer be feared, and the strength so often 
wasted in individual rivalries will be united and employed for the 
common good. 

I have spoken thus freely because I appreciate the responsibili- 
ties of the office which, without any seeking of mine, you have so 
generously conferred upon me. Conscious that you could have found 
some one else who could have served you with greater ability, and 
sensible of the distinction the office confers, which I regard as the 
highest honor I have ever enjoyed, I shall try to do my duty, and 
to deserve the confidence you have placed in me. I shall rely upon 
your generous and active co-operation in the work the Association 
may find to do, and trust that our labors may be pleasant, harmo- 
nious, and profitable to the whole trade. 

Thanking you for your attendance here to-day, and trusting that 
we may meet more frequently in the future than in the past, I now 
declare this convention open for the transaction of business. 

THE PITTSBURGH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 

A communication was then read from the Pittsburgh Chamber 
of Commerce, as follows : 

Pittsburgh, May 5, 1879. 
Hon, D. J. Morrell, President Iron and Steel Association. 

Dear Sir: At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of 
Commerce, held this day, the follo\ying resolution, offered by Major William 
Frew, was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce extends to the Convention of Iron 
and Steel Manufacturers and Iron Ore Producers of the United States, to 
convene in this city on the 6th day of May, and to the American Institute of 
Mining Engineers, to meet on the 13th inst., a hearty welcome to our city and 
to the courtesies of the Chamber. 

Very respectfully yours, 

S. L. McHexry, Secretary. 

On motion the invitation to visit the Chamber of Commerce was 
accepted, with the understanding that it would be complied with if 
opportunity permitted. 



15 



ELECTION OF DAVID THOMAS AS VICE-PRESIDENT. 

On motion of Mr. J. B. Moorhead, of Philadelphia, Mr. David 
Thomas, of Catasauqua, Pa., the oldest ironmaster in the United 
States, was elected a Vice-President. Mr. Thomas made a few 
remarks, as follows : 

Gentlemen: My mother used to tell me that if I had nothing 
worth saying I had better hold my tongue, and I have tried to re- 
member her advice : I have nothing at all to-day worth saying. I 
came here to listen and learn. I am pretty much out of practice. 
I have been in the harness for over sixty-seven years, and I have 
seen a good many ups and downs, but this is about the longest 
down I have ever seen. I can remember the iron business back to 
just after the battle of Waterloo, in 1816 and 1817, and those were 
perhaps the hardest times I do remember. I suppose there was 
more distress then than in any year since. When I came to this 
country, in 1839, the whole amount of iron produced in the United 
States was only about 287,000 tons. I have lived to see the busi- 
ness very greatly enlarged. As you are all aware, gentlemen, I 
still feel a great interest in the prosperity of my adopted country. 
I came here with a view of returning in five years, and here I am 
still ; that was forty years ago, and I su^^pose I will die here. You, 
gentlemen, are young, and I hope you will work well and in har- 
mony. The United States is a large country, its interests are vari- 
ous, and its resources are past finding out. The iron business is 
only one of its interests. Before you young gentlemen are as old 
as I am you will see the United States supply the world with iron. 
I have traveled extensively, and I know something of the resources 
of the country. Our interests being united and having been pro- 
tected, we have made great progress, but we still need a little 
longer Protection. We are a little far from the sea-coast. We have 
railroads, it is true, but they have to carry great distances ; but 
the time is coming when this matter will be pretty well regulated. 
I have nothing more to say, except to thank you for the compli- 
ment conferred upon me. 

Mr. Thomas was then escorted to a seat upon the platform. 

READING OF A PAPER BY JOSEPH WHARTON. 

The President announced that in the absence of Mr. Joseph 
Wharton, of Philadelphia, First Vice-President of the Association, 
who had consented to read a paper, Mr. Cyrus Elder, of Johnstown, 
would read it. The following is Mr. Wharton's paper. 



16 



THE AMERICAN IRONMASTER. 



Gentlemen: Talleyrand remarked that the United States re- 
sembled a giant without bones, and his simile had a certain aptness. 
A Frenchman of the old school, accustomed to close coherence, 
under one head, of all parts and functions of the State;. to intimate 
and harmonious interdependence of all branches of the government 
as well as of the. nation's various industries, and to the immense 
capacity for concentrated effort and great achievement which his 
highly organized community enjoyed, might naturally enough in- 
dulge in that polite sneer at the United States of eighty-five years 
ago, when Talleyrand visited this country. 

Our government was but in the gristle, having much of the plia- 
bility of youth, yet it had also much of the sturdy toughness of 
healthy youth : it lacked the accurate and rigid formality of older 
nationalities, yet" had a strong, if not perfectly clear, perception of 
the model it was to attain. Our industry was principally a monot- 
onous agriculture, yet vigorous attempts were not lacking either in 
commerce or in manufactures. Our great territory was but little 
known and scantily peopled, yet its trackless wildernesses held vast 
funds of varied treasure. 

Above all, however, and permeating everything, was a resolute 
spirit of independence and self-defence. The young nation was 
inspired by buoyant faith in its future and by a fixed resolution to 
live out its own life, but the most friendly prophet would hardly 
have ventured to predict that it would thus early have attained its 
actual prodigious magnitude and power, almost before the gristle 
had fully become bone. 

In the wonderful material development of this country the ad- 
vance of its manufacturing industries has of course played a most 
important part. They have marched on with dauntless courage, 
though to be sure with varied fortune, despite all discouragement 
and opposition ; despite New England's by-gone Free Trade and 
Sailors' Rights ; despite the old planters' scorn of mudsill mechan- 
ics; despite the horse-leech appetite of New York's foreign traders 
clamoring in every Congress for the blood of American laborers ; 
and despite the incessant competition of foreign rivals. Their 
growth is the nation's great gain and safeguard. 

But Talleyrand's simile may very fitly be applied to the indus- 
tries of this country as they would be without iron ; all those vast 
activities, without an equally vast aud active production and 
manufacture of iron and steel in the midst of them, would be but a 



17 



boneless giaut. Absolutely devoid of iron one cannot imagine 
theni ; they wonld be simply impossible withont the iron which is 
indispensable for their shelter, their motive power, their machinery 
and tools, their transportation in peace, and their defence in war. 
Dependent upon the iron of other countries, they would exist only 
by sufferance. 

Agriculture without iron falls back to the wooden ground-scratch- 
er pulled by an ox or cow fastened to it with thongs ; to threshing 
of grain by trampling cattle and fanning it with a sieve in the 
wind ; no plow nor hoe, no axe nor scythe, no horse-shoe, ])ridle- 
bit, nor wagon-tire, no thi-eshing-machine nor grain-mill. 

Spinning and weaving — all making of cloth or string, reverts, 
without iron, from the swift whirring of countless spindles and 
looms in a modern factory, capable of making a girdle for the earth 
in forty minutes, not merely to the domestic spinning-wheel and 
hand-loom, but to the distaff, and it vanishes into the dim an- 
tiquity when only skins were worn and clothing of any sort was 
a possession worthy of being reckoned as one of the chief spoils of 
war. The familiar lines, 

A painted vest Prince Vortigern had on, 
Whicli from a naked Pict his grandsire won, 

leave us indeed in dou])t whether vestment in those days was so 
scanty as to leave its wearer naked, or whether the Prince's grand- 
father was obliged to skin his conquered foe to procure that trophy. 

Building without iron : no axe, hatchet, saw, plane, chisel, nor 
auger; no nail, screw, nor wire; no hinge, latch, nor lock — what is 
it but piling Mp of stones into a rude wall and covering it with 
boughs or skins, or merely propping up the skins or boughs upon 
poles ? 

Travel or transportation without iron, other than afoot or upon 
the backs of animals, could not go beyond a wooden canoe for the 
water, and a clumsy springless wagon or chariot with block wheels 
for the land. 

Even hunting and fishing, and the ancient trade of murder or 
man-killing, w^ere in a most deplorable condition without iron. 
Cain, having no pistol or other modern convenience, doubtless had 
no better way to kill his brother than with a stick. Tribes desiring 
to fight had to content themselves with stone hatchets or arrow- 
heads, and with clubs. If the dandy was right who said that exist- 
ence without silver forks would be a burden to him, how distressing 



18 



would be the life of a frontiersman without the revolver and bowie- 
knife which iron alone can afford him ; how pitiable the lot of a 
nation without a Krupp cannon ! 

The German poet Arndt, in his " Lob des Eisens," that is, 
" Praise of Iron," says, in a verse which I freely translate : 

It sets the plow upon the lea, 

The earth for man to conquer. 
It guides the ship upon the sea ; 

It holds her safe at anchor. 
It builds strongholds and pleasant homes, 

It fills the house with art ; 
And, as a magic wand, it comes 

To turn the lightning'.s dart. 

And, again, from his " Vaterlandslied," I translate : 

The God whose will made iron grow 

Willed no man to be slave; 
Therefore the gleaming lance and sword 

To man's right hand He gave. 

It might be supposed that the iron and steel producers, whose 
skill and toil bring to light the ores, extract the iron, make the 
steel, and fashion both ii-on and steel into all shapes of use ; who, 
for the better supplying of mankind, draw into their service all 
science and art, and who render possible all other arts, would be 
highly, perhaps unduly, esteemed and reverenced by their fellow- 
men, but candor compels me to state that, in this country at least, 
• certain of their fellow-citizens arc fond of abusing them as monopo- 
lists, as rich aristocrats, and as defrauders (with the connivance of 
the State) of the public, their customers. 

Now, monopoly has been defined by a witty American as " any 
occupation in which any one is perfectly free to engage; as, for 
instance, chopping wood and shoveling sand are monopolies." 

Since it is true that a man having no tools and no limbs is de- 
barred from chopping or shoveling, and that a man having neither 
money nor brains cannot be an iron-master — that is, not until he has 
saved money and improved his understanding — a real analogy 
exists between the two cases, and we must admit that the heavy 
charge of monopoly fairly lies against the iron makers just as 
(jlearly as against the wood choppers. 

But it is said they are rich! Some years ago a man who had 
amassed a snug fortune elsewhere came to live in Philadelphia, 
and, wishing to continue in trade, concluded to embark in the coal 
business, because he observed that everybody in the coal business 



19 



was rich. After a few months he said sadly to a friend that he had 
discovered why all the coal men Avere rich : it was because nobody 
but a rich man could stand it long in the coal business. How true 
this is as to the iron-masters has lately been demonstrated. Many 
men and many companies have failed ; only the rich could stand 
it, and those solid capitals which laboring men are sometimes 
taught to regard as their enemies were the only stay of such es- 
tablishments as have survived, and the soui'ce of bread to thou- 
sands of working people in a time of distress. 

That American iron-masters are aristocrats is sufficiently absurd. 
Many of them have worked up from the ranks, and know all about 
hard work ; they have obeyed, and can now judiciously and right- 
fully command ; they have been properly promoted for good be- 
havior, and it is for the interest of the State that their promotion 
is conspicuous, but it is to rank in a campaigning army and not to 
luxurious ease that they have been lifted. Though many of them 
have honorably attained the solid competence which assures to their 
subordinates steady employment and fair prospect of rising as they 
may merit advancemept, yet all America can show no single par- 
allel to the princely iron-masters of other countries whose w'ealth 
our Free Traders are so anxious to swell. Whatever good fortune 
American iron-masters have enjoyed has been fairly shared with 
the working people about them. 

In prosperous times their wages have so risen that they enjoyed a 
fair share of the prosperity : their employers' gains have mostly gone 
to improving and enlarging the works and adding to the working 
capital, thus forming a guarantee of steady future employment. 
Though in advei'se times their wages necessarily fall, and in times of 
distress fall to a lower point than is satisfactory to them or to their 
employers, yet we all know that some employers have kept their 
works running at a loss in order to give work and wages to their 
men. 

Do we cheat our customers ? No one thinks so but those lofty 
creatures, superior alike in morals and intelligence, the Free Traders 
and Revenue Reformers — some formerly paid directly by foreign 
rivals of American industries, some led by their interest as import- 
ers or as hangers-on of importers, some honest college professors who 
like Saul verily think they do God service, and who it may be hoped 
will like him be enlightened. Of course our old friend John Bull is 
at the bottom of this particular piece of flattery ; he, the liberal 
friend of humanity who abused all America because the Southern 



20 



portion of it held slaves, and who in our civil war took the part of 
the South ; the original Cheap Johnny who charged twice as much 
for his rotten iron rails as we now charge for the best steel ones ; the 
stern denouncer of monopolies who is content with nothing less for 
himself than British monopoly of all the most profitable industries; 
the model upholder of law and order who is always ready to sow 
dissension in his neighbors' families ; the gushing sympathizer with 
our prosperous Grangers because they are somewhat restrained for 
their own good from dealing in his shop, while so many of his 
own peasantry are degraded almost to bestiality and have scarcely 
a penny to spend in any shop but the beer shop. 

It is matter for constant wonder to many of us, who know how 
sensible and friendly an English iron-master can be, to find English 
manufacturers as a rule persistently abandoning the safe and honest 
ground of caring openly for their own interests in their own way as 
they have a right to do, and, instead, preaching to rivals who 
laugh at them an absurd and hypocritical cant of philanthropic 
Free Trade. Who could imagine, on reading John Bright's in- 
temperate abuse of our high tarifi', that hiB' own nation actually 
collects a larger amount of customs duties per capita than the 
United States, and that American whisky and tobacco are among 
the articles upon which Great Britain levies the heaviest rates! 
England, in pursuance of her favorite idea that no nation should 
be complete in itself, but that all others should be her dependents, 
providers of raw material for her factories and consumers of her 
manufactures, has reached a deformed development that reminds 
one of the caricatures of amateur rowing men, with huge monstrous 
arms and puny shriveled legs. She produces far more manufac- 
tured goods than she can consume, but far less food and raw mate- 
rial of all sorts than she requires. 

Her philosophers recommend to the United States a sort of 
Siamese twin arrangement with herself, which they feel sure would 
work to her benefit and which they protest would suit us also most 
nicely ; a commercial band, 3,000 miles long, to unite us so inti- 
mately and vitally that no one can tell whether either would sur- 
vive in case the ligament were purposely cut or accidentally torn 
asunder. 

But, thanks! we don't wish to be a Siamese twin. We have 
both arms and legs in a remarkably sound and vigorous condition. 
We ai-e not cramped nor distorted either by smallness of territory, 
narrow range of climate or soil, or by antiquated land laws ; the 



21 



most magnificeut, unparalleled symmetrical development of all 
human powers and faculties lies open to us if the nation will but 
follow the laws of its own being, avoid entangling alliances com- 
mercial as well as political, and prefer common sense to college 
theories. 

No doubt England will be sorely tried by the re-arrangement of 
her labor and of her internal economy which the near future re- 
quires at her hands, and we may properly sympathize with her 
troubles ; yet we must remember that it is a fox that is in the well, 
and, though we be but a goat, let her not delude us, as did the fox 
the goat in the fable, to jump into the pit in order that she may es- 
cape over our back. 

But, gentlemen, let us look the plain facts of our position in the 
face, and take counsel together. We are carrying on our business 
under conditions comparable to those of the diligent Hollanders^ 
whose thrifty farms, lower than the surrounding sea, are securely 
protected from its destructive ravages by artificial dikes, yet who, 
in those homes where, but for the dikes, the fish would appear, 
" not as a meat but as a guest," enjoy from generation to genera- 
tion as complete comfort and safety as any other people. We are 
not the only industrious and inventive people in the world. All the 
enlightened nations are eagerly pressing on upon the same paths 
that we pursue ; not England alone, but several of them are our 
keen and persistent rivals. Not only do they invent, contrive, and 
save with ingenuity and pertinacity equal to ours, but they copy 
all our improvements as we copy theirs. They are fully equipped 
at every point for the race with us, while in their swarming and un- 
derpaid populations they have a vast advantage for cheap manufac- 
turing to which we have no offset ; it is not for the nation's interest 
that we should in that respect be upon a par with our rivals, that 
the voting American citizen should have no better lot in point of 
material comfort and of education, than the sour communist or the 
hopeless proletary of other countries. 

When the employers of such laborers claim the right to enter 
our markets freely, and challenge us to open combat of under-sell- 
ing in them, counting upon the ability of their working people to 
endure more privation than ours, we reply Nay ! but our people 
make our laws and they choose to keep their own markets for their 
own labor, yet if you will intrude you must pay to our government 
in return for that privilege a tax which will compensate for that 
greater cheapness of labor. Thus by the artificial dike of a tariff 



^9 



law are the thrifty industries of America enabled to yield to the 
nation their annual crops of all things needful, and to afford an 
honest living to millions of busy working people. 

That some theorists should suffer pain because what they imagine 
to be the laws of nature are thus defied is sad, but we shall not 
endeavor to console or to convert them. Let them abandon this 
stiff-necked American people, preach their evangel to the Hol- 
landers, and turn them from wickedly flying in the face of Provi- 
dence by building up their hot-house industry under the sea. It is 
probably too much to hope, however, that our lofty American cos- 
mopolites should quit their flaunting in the blue sky like idle Iwl)- 
tails fastened to an English kite, and their sneering at the busy 
toilers they look down upon without comprehending. 

We have quite outlived the times when a stock argument of our 
adversaries was that no matter how much our industry might, for 
the good of the country, be protected by customs duties, we could 
not supply the country's wants, and would merely force American 
buyers to pay into the government coffers a heavy special tax on 
foreign goods. We' cent supply the country with all the iron and 
steel in every form and style that it can possibly consume. 

We have demonstrated that steady adherence to a strong protec- 
tive policy reduces prices to consumers. We and our predecessors 
dared to contest with British manufacturers in our own markets 
when our tariff was vacillating ; by slow and painful steps they and 
we have built up our establishments, have won from those rivals 
their mastery over American markets, have seen the fires of furnace 
and forge invade one region after another of this country and dis- 
pel the blind old rancor which those regions had been taught to 
nurse against our home labor policy; Ave have lived down the preju- 
dices against ourselves and our calling, to the same extent that we 
have given strength and independence to our country, and we have 
firmly established the United States as the second iron and steel 
producing nation of the world — second only to Great Britain. 

In this period of universal trial and distress we and our col- 
leagues in other branches of manufacture have in spite of the 
gloom and depression mostly continued at work, which except for 
the protective policy would have been impossible ; many thousands 
of industrious workers have thus, thanks to that beneficent jjolicy, 
been kept steadily employed and in comfort. The old chronic 
drain of money and bonds from America to Europe has been 
arrested, and this country is now, thanks I say again to its system 



of Protectiou to home labor, in souuder and more hopeful com- 
mercial condition than any other. 

Then may not we and our brethren in other industries honestly 
claim the good-will of all true citizens of these United States of 
America — may we not count with certainty upon a continuance of 
the policy which has brought such blessing to the nation? 

Gentlemen, it is useless to blink the unwelcome fact that, though 
a majority of our fellow-citizens support the policy of Protection to 
Home Industry, it is one of the cherished aims of an aggressive 
minority to tear down the barriers which protect our establish- 
ments and our employes, — the industrial independence of the 
nation and the self-respecting manhood of American laborers, — 
from the assaults of the chea,per labor of foreign lands, directed 
and sustained by the accumulated skill and the cheaper capital 
of those lands. 

It is meet that we should declare to the country that we will sup- 
port no party and no candidate who cannot be depended on by 
something better than election-day promises to protect and defend 
home labor. It is fitting for us to call "hands off" to those who 
are itching to tear our tariff law to shreds ; to call upon the Presi- 
dent in advance to refrain from meddling with commercial treaty 
making, and to veto, as he doubtless would, any measure injurious 
to home industry which a hostile majority in Congress may pass ; 
to call upon the representatives of all other American indus- 
tries to stand by us as we will stand by them in resisting all 
changes in the tariff laws and all tariff making by treaty until 
those laws can be carefully and prudently revised by a Congress 
or by a commission known to be devoted to the interests of this 
nation, and not suspected of desiring to stab those interests to death, 
or of feeling such cosmopolitan affection for the whole human race 
as to be unwilling to guard our own people. Our own duty as 
manufacturers is to give to the country our best services, demand- 
ing therefor but moderate gains. 

Gentlemen, while feeling the lively solicitude for the future of 
our great establishments, with all that depend upon them, which I 
have thus feebly expressed, I cannot fear that the American giant 
will ever henceforth be found unprovided with his proper bones of 
iron and steel ; I cannot believe that the tariff dikes are to be 
broken down, or that we shall fail to defend ourselves and our 
country from slavery to foreign manufactui'ers ; for I share the 
conviction of Arndt already quoted, who, when inspiring his 



24 



countrymen to throw off the yoke of Bonaparte, said in his 
" Vaterlandslied :" 

Der Gott der Eisen wachsen liess 
Der wollte keine Knechte. 

The God whose will made iron grow 
Willed no man to be slave. 

On motion of Mr. Shinn, a vote of thanks was tendered Mr. 
Wharton for the ^^aper just read. 

READING OF A PAPEK BY A. B. STONE. 

Mr. Joseph D. Weeks then read a paper prepared by Mr. A. 
B. Stone, of Cleveland, Ohio. The paper was as follows : 

now PROTECTION PROTECTS. 

My endeavor in this paper will be to show briefly the close rela- 
tions existing between the iron and steel manufactures of the 
United States and all the other branches of our industrial system, 
insisting, more particularly, on their relations to the farmiug inter- 
ests of the West and Southwest, and indicating summarily how, by 
fostering and promotiug such manufactures, the nation is fostering 
and jiromoting the agricultural concerns of those great and growing 
sections of the country. 

Free Traders declare, with a great deal of emphasis and not a 
little heat, that trade between nation and nation ought to be unre- 
stricted ; that commerce between country and country should be 
as untrammeled as traffic between State and State, or county and 
county; that custom houses should be abolished; that tariffs plunder 
those who impose them, the many being impoverished for the en- 
riching of the few; and that, in one word, trade and industry should 
be permitted to regulate themselves, unaided by the science or ignor- 
ance of the law -giver. 

Fortunately this ingenious theory has never yet been able to 
make converts of anything approaching a majority of the American 
people. Their good sense has always repudiated it. To-day we find, 
even in Eugland itself, the great home of the Free Trade school, its 
doctrines discredited and its professors and advocates being rapidly 
driven from the aggressive position which they have heretofore held 
into an attitude of defense. In Germany there is a sti'ong reaction 
against Free Trade doctrines. France has been too wise to ever 
wholly commit herself to them. Wherever we look we see that a 



25 



reaction has set in against Free Trade. The people of this country 
can congratulate themselves on the good fortune that they have not 
now to be retracing their missteps in economical matters. We have 
only to persevere in the same course which has brought us pros- 
perity in the past and promises to bring us still more abundant 
prosperity in the future. 

In a country in the condition of the United States there might be 
Free Trade, but there would be a bond people. The foreign manu- 
facturer would have the native consumer at his mercy. Theorists 
complain that Protection leads to monopoly. This is an error. But, 
even if it were true, the monopoly has an object, and the greatest 
that can be brought before a people — the development of their 
industries and resources. On the other hand, perpetual Fi-ee Trade 
would really create a monopoly, whose seat was in other lands and 
whose object was the development of their resources at the expense 
of our own. Free Trade would condemn a new country to remain 
in the subordinate position in the industrial scale to which the supe- 
rior wealth and long-continued efforts of older countries had con- 
signed it. A Free Trade policy would have condemned the people 
of the United States to remain always dependent upon the na- 
tions of the Old World for all manufactures of steel and iron, 
while the country was rich beyond comparison in the raw materials 
out of which such articles are made. And why? Simply because 
being a younger nation we did not begin so early as the great iron 
and steel producing nations of Europe, and did not have so much 
accumulated wealth ready to seek new investments as they had and 
have. There is still another point of great importance which should 
not be forgotten. Wages are higher in this country than in Europe. 
The stock of accumulated capital is much less, and yet a larger part 
of the return upon it goes into the wage-fund and is paid away to 
the mechanic and laborer. In this way our industrial classes are 
enabled to live more comfortably than the industrial classes of any 
other country ever have lived, and to educate their children better 
than the children of the industrial classes have heretofore been edu- 
cated. Under Free Trade this would have been impossible. If our 
manufacturers of iron and steel were to exist at all without a tariiF 
it could only be by cutting down the wages of the laborers to a 
figure far below any that has yet been dreamed of in this country. 
To compete with English industry and capital, the tradition and 
accumulation of centuries, we would have to make paupers of the 
great bulk of our population. 



26 



Duties oti articles of foreign manufacture are then a necessity. If 
they are not imposed the manufacture of the articles will not be 
attempted. The country is comparatively undeveloped, but is now 
rapidly developing under the fostering care of a protective tarifl! 
Money is worth more here than in Europe. This is another disad- 
vantage under which our manufacturers lie. For the use of the 
same amount of money for the same length of time they are com- 
pelled to pay from two to six per cent, more than the manufacturers 
of the older countries of Europe have to pay. And because they 
are at this disadvantage now the Free Trader would compel the 
country always to remain without manufactures. Again, capital is 
notoriously timid. In its timidity lies a great portion of its strength. 
Before judicious capitalists will jDut money into an enterprise there 
must be a well-grounded hope of success. In competition with the 
great iron and steel producing nations of Europe, with their estab- 
lished methods and trade, cheap labor, and cheap money, what hope 
of success would there have been for the American manufacturer of 
such commodities, compelled to begin afresh, create his methods and 
his trade with ])oth money and wages dear, without the protection 
of wise tariff legislation? The attempt would have failed as often 
as made. 

And yet the general benefits of diversified industry are universally 
admitted. A people condemned to agricultural pursuits alone is 
always sure to be a poor people. They will be compelled to ex- 
change their raw products at prices to be fixed by the foreign man- 
ufacturers, and these prices will be so fixed that the grower of the 
raw product will receive the minimum of return for his labor and 
capital, while the foreign trader will receive the maximum return 
for his labor and capital. The industries of a nation are inter- 
connected or, as the scientists say, correlated. One is an aid to the 
other. The home manufacture of iron and steel fosters the growth 
of all related industries. Their develojiment is not only of direct 
benefit in finding employment for capital and labor, but it indi- 
rectly results in finding employment for capital and labor in other 
industries. The poor, the laborers, are the great consumers, and 
when they are employed at good wages all branches of industry 
will be flourishing. 

PEOTECTION RfeDUCES PRICES TO CONSUMERS. 

One of the lallacies connected with and underlying the ordinary 
Free Trade arsrument is that if tariffs did not exist the consumer 



27 



would obtain his commodities at a lower rate than he obtains them 
under Protection. A great deal of eloquence is wasted in knocking 
down this man of straw. To begin with, economists need not be 
told that competition results in lowering prices. It is plain that a 
protective tariff, instead of rooting out competition, actually creates 
it. The iron and steel producers of Englaud are well aware that 
our protective tariff has produced competition from which they are 
to-day suffering. It would be strange indeed if this competition 
resulted in raising prices. We have at hand the most overwhelm- 
ing proof that it has not, but that it has resulted in a reduction 
of prices. Let us glance at a few facts which will outweigh tliou- 
sands of theories. In October, 1877, iron rails fell to $32.50 per 
ton. This is far below the lowest price of rails in this country 
when the tariff was merely nominal. In 1852, during a previous 
era of low prices, best refined bar iron was sold at Philadelphia at 
an average price during the year of $58.79 per gross ton. In 1877 
the average price of the same quality of iron was $45.55 per gross 
ton. The lowest price obtained in 1852 was from March to July, 
$52.50 per ton. In August the price ran up to $i')o ; in September 
to $60 ; in October and November it stood at $70 ; and in Decem- 
ber it rose to $80 ; and during the first three months of 1853 the 
price remained at $90 per ton. This was under a nominal tariff; 
we had no manufactures to speak of; we were then following the 
Free Trader's advice, and hence according to his logic ought to have 
been getting our iron and steel cheap. Twenty-five years after- 
wards, in 1877, after a long trial of Protection, the bar iron that 
was $90 a ton in 1853 was sold, month after month, for $44.80 — 
less than one-lialf the price in 1853. This was $7.70 below the 
lowest figure touched in 1852. And the present low figures are in 
a sense permanent, while twenty-five years ago there was a violent 
reaction to high piices after bottom figures had been reached. Pig- 
iron at $18 per ton is cheajier than it ever was in this country since 
colonial days — far cheaper than it ever was under a nominal tarifi! 
And why should not this have been the case? Its production in 
1858 was 705,000 tons, while in 1877 it was 2,314,000 tons, the pro- 
duction under Protection being about 3i times what it was under 
a nominal tarifi". In face of these facts it is idle to talk of tarifi'- 
plundering those who impose them. If the tariff was swept away 
we might have cheap iron and steel for a little while, until Ameri 
can competition was eftectually " stamped out," and then up would 
go the prices. We would have to pay high rates for our goods 



28 



while we would have less money to purchase them with, and at the 
same time our laborers would be reduced to beggary. 

Home manufactures have this also in their favor : they are suited 
to the wants, the tastes, and the wishes of our people. This is a 
matter of moment. American goods of iron and steel are not only 
cheaper than foreign goods would be but they are more tasteful in 
design and better in workmanship. They are our own. They are 
not forced upon us. And the very fact that other nations are 
learning how excellent they are is proof that Protection of Ameri- 
can industries has been a direct benefit to the world. But for Pro- 
tection they would never have been manufactured, and the foreign 
iron and steel producers, in the quiet enjoyment of a monopoly, 
would have dropped into routine and made no attempts at improve- 
ment. 

AMERICAN RAILROADS BENEFITED BY PROTECTION. 

The building up of our home industries has been a direct benefit 
to the railroads of the country. And perhaps it would not be wide 
of the mark to assert that a considerable portion of the unex- 
ampled railroad prosperity which blessed the country for a number 
of years was the direct and indirect fruit of Protection, more par- 
ticularly of iron and steel. The railroads obtained an increased ton- 
nage by ti-ansporting tlic raw materials going into the production 
of these articles, such as coal, iron ore, limestone, etc. The centres 
of manufacture and production are also centres of consumption. 
The railroads obtain increased tonnage in transporting the food 
and clothing used by those engaged in manufactures. Even in the 
matter of travel manufactures increase the number of passengers, 
visitors, and purchasers. Every increase of this kind is a direct 
source of revenue. There is, however, still another way in which 
the Protection of iron and steel has reacted favorably on the rail- 
roads. Steel rails are now sold at about SIO per ton less than iron 
rails were sold for in 1860. Steel rails were sold at $165 per ton in 
1868 ; in December, 1877, they were sold at $40 per ton, while the 
average price for the current year does not exceed $44. Quantity 
for quantity, steel rails outlast iron ones from 15 to 25 times. The 
low price of steel rails has enabled our roads to be relaid with 
them, and the result has been a great saving in wear and tear. 
The operating expenses being reduced, rates for freight have been 
reduced also. The report of the Chicago and Northwestern Rail- 
way Company for 1878 shows that, while the movement of freight 



29 



has increased over the precediug year 28 52-100 per cent., there 
was a reduction in freight rates of 7 53-100 per cent. In 1876-7 
the rate per ton per mile was 1 86-100 cents, while in 1877-8 it 
fell to 1 72-100 cents. In 1871-2 the rate was 2 61-100 cents, 
while in 1872-3 it fell to 2 ;]5-100 cents. A recent report of the 
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad shows that from 1865 to 
1878, a period of fourteen years, there has been a progressive reduc- 
tion in the average price per tcjn per mile received for freights. In 
1865 the price was 4 11-100 cents, while in 1878 it had fallen to 
1 80-100 cents; that is, the present rate is less than 44 per cent, of 
what the rate in 1865 was. The report of the Hannibal and St. 
Joseph Railroad Company for 1878 shows that the rate per ton per 
mile was 1 295-1000 cents. This is a material and progressive re- 
duction over pi'evious years. All these facts, and they might be 
multiplied many times over, show that during the last five or six 
years there has been a progressive reduction in freight charges, and 
this reduction is due primarily to the substitution of durable steel 
rails for iron rails not so durable, and at a figure much below what 
was at one time thought a very reasonable price for the inferior 
article. The effects of these great reductions in rates of transporta- 
tion are as self-evident as they are advantageous to every class of 
our people. 

AMERICAN FARMERS BENEFITED BY PROTECTION. 

It is unnecessary to more than glance at the benefits which 
the whole people, but more especially the farmers of the West 
and Southwest, have received from the growth and extension 
of the domestic manufactures of iron and steel. The cheap- 
ening of the rates of freight is a direct benefit to them. Every 
cent saved on the cost of transportation is a cent in the pocket of 
the farmer. But this is by no means all. All kinds of tools and 
implements are now cheaper than they ever were before. The 
farmer can to-day buy the most approved plows, harrows, 
rakes, shovels, wheel tires, springs, etc., at a much lower figure 
than he could have purchased the most inferior articles a few 
years ago. This directly tends to the improvement of agriculture. 
Good tools do not make a good workman, but an inferior Avorkman 
may be able to turn out better work with good tools than a good 
workman could turn out with inferior tools. Fencing is a large 
item in the farmer's expenses. By the substitution of durable and 
tasteful fences of iron wire for the unsightly and perishable board 



30 



fences this item is reduced to a very low point. Modern ma- 
chinery has reduced the bulk of hay and straw by compression, and 
after they are "condensed" they are bound up with iron and steel 
wire or bands. In this way the cost of production is reduced, 
while handling is made easier. 

And just here let me cite an extract from an admirable article in 
the May number of the AUantic Monthly, showing to what extent 
self-binding and the use of steel wire have been carried in the har- 
vesting of grain : " The development of the self-binding reaper is 
one of the marvels of the age. It was brought into use in 1874, 
when fifty tons of wire were manufactured for binding sheaves ; in 
1875, three hundred tons ; in 1876, twenty-eight hundred tons ; in 
1877, sixty-five hundred tons; in 1878, fourteen thousand tons. 
This last amount is quite as much as the total of wire manufactured 
in this country in 1860." And as the writer points out, without 
the aid of machinery " it would have l^een impossible for this coun- 
try to have harvested more than one quarter or one-third of the 
360,000,000 Imshels of wheat produced last year." 

Now these stupendous results — marvelous as the creation of 
Aladdin's wonderful lamp — are traceable to our judicious patent 
laws in alliance with a judidouti tariff system. Skilled labor has 
taken the place of poorly paid, and yet, to the farmer, costly un- 
skilled labor in the harvest fields. The demand for a vast and in- 
creasing amount of manufactured ii'(m and steel furnishes employ- 
ment to increased numbers of our artisans and laborers the year 
round ; and while cheapening to the farmer the cost of producing 
and marketing his product, yet yields him a larger profit ; and, 
better than all, gives the blessing of cheaper food to our own 
people, as Avell as to the millions across the sea. 

If these considerations show anything they demonstrate that 
a protective tariflf has been a direct benefit to the people of this 
country, not in one State, but in all States ; not in one section, but 
in all sections. It is easy to cry to the farmers of the West and 
SouthAvest : " The tariff plunders you. If there was no duty on 
iron and steel you would have your farming utensils cheaper than 
you now get them." I have shown that the price of iron and steel 
never was so low under a nominal tariff as it is under a protective 
tariff". But if this does not satisfy the farmers, let them look at 
any country mthout home manufactures, and tell me if they are 
not a poor people, an ignorant people, a people using the most anti- 
quated tools and implements, and finally point me to one instance 



81 



in which they are enabled to buy foreign commodities of inferior 
grades as cheap as you can purchase the best class of your home 
manufactures. Protection is necessary to our iron and steel indus- 
tries — never more necessary than now. If we desire to follow the 
path of imjirovenient which we have hitherto pursued, the nation 
will continue the protective policy. If this policy is abandoned, 
the country will fall back out of the front rank of States — she will 
become a hewer of wood and drawer of water for wiser and more 
enlightened peoples. Education will be at a stand-still, our labor- 
ing classes will be idle on our hands, while the money that would 
sujjport them and their families in comfort is going to Europe to 
pay for the commodities which we have all the materials and labor 
necessary to manufacture, but of which, in obedience to an exploded 
theory, we refuse to make use. 

A vote of thanks was tendered to Mr. Stone for his paper. 

THE UNITED STATES TINPLATE INDUSTRY. 

Secretary Weeks then read a communication from the United 
States Iron and Tinplate Company, inclosing the following petition, 
which was also read : 

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives : 

We, the undersigned, respectfully submit that it is our earnest belief that 
the present mode of imposing duties on imported iron plates coated with tin 
or terne metal other than by electric battery is not consistent with the law, 
and herewith take the liberty to call your attention to the following facts and 
figures relating to this subject. 

The articles which are commercially known as " tin and terne plates " are 
iron plates coated with tin or terne (a mixture of lead and tin) otherwise than 
by electric battery; the main substance (about 95 per cent.) of the same is 
iron, but although the present tariff law provides that " iron plates galvanized 
or coated with any other metal shall pay a duty of 2lc. per pound," and that 
all manufactures of which iron is the component of chief value shall not pay 
less than 35 per cent, ad valorem, these tinned iron plates are admitted at a 
duty of lyVc. per pound, or about 20 per cent, ad valorem., under the name of 
"tin in sheets or plates, and terne." To everybody acquainted with the pro- 
cess of manufacturing these tin and terne plates it leaves no doubt that the 
originators of the present law intended the clause "tin in plates or sheets" 
for the pure tin metal rolled or pressed into sheets or plates ; and that tin 
plates (or as they should be more properly called, "tinned plates,") should 
pay duty under the provision '' tin plates, and iron galvanized or coated with 
any other metal otherwise than by electric battery," especially inasmuch also 
as 2!tC. per pound harmonizes with the rate of duty imposed and collected 



32 



on other shapes and products of Iron, cost considered. [See Heil's Tariff, 
page 59, provision 335, and page 166, clause 1,052.] 

Wlien ir(jn plates are coated with zinc or spelter otherwise than by electric 
battery they are classed under the latter clause, and pay 22C. per pound, but 
if the same article is coated with tin or terne, by the same process, it is now 
admitted at I^'qC- per pound. 

This misconstruction of the law has caused for many years an annual loss 
to the government of about three million dollars, and has prevented the de- 
velopment of an industry in which, if protected the same as other branches 
of the iron trade, at least 40,000 persons would ultimately obtain a livelihood, 
and through which about thirteen million dollars would be kept circulating 
at home, which we send abroad annually. 

There are at present several firms in this country who have built and now 
operate tin plate works with great sacrifice. The plates that are manufac- 
tured in this country have preference with the trade, but under present cir- 
cumstances it is impossible to manufacture without loss, and, therefore, a very 
important industry will be lost to this country unless justice comes to the aid 
of those who have invested their capital in the undertaking. 

The tin plate business represents an annual consumption of over 150,000 
tons of pig iron, and about 1,000,000 tons of coal, and about 50 rolling mills 
with two trains each are required to supply the demand for this article. 

Had the tariff acts of 1864 and 1875 been correctly enforced this immense 
business would now exist as a part of the resources of the United States. 
And in order that an immense loss of revenue may be saved to the govern- 
ment, and a most important branch of the iron business be revived and de- 
veloped, we most respectfully request your honorable body to at once instruct 
the Custom House Department to impose duty on tin plates, or iron plates 
coated with tin or terne, under the clause which provides that iron plates gal- 
vanized or coated with any other metal otherwise than by electric battery 
shall pay 2.>c. per lb. 

Iron manufi'.cturers believe that the development of tin plate making in the 
United States would tend quickly and powerfully to revive the whole busi- 
ness by creating a demand for the surplus product of pig iron. It will go far 
towards restoring prosperity to all interests, inasmuch as there can be no gene- 
ral prosperity while the iron trade is prostrated. 

Mr. Shinii moved that the matter be referred to the Committee 
on Resolutions hereafter to be appointed. 

Mr. Kennedy, of Philadeljohia, asked whether it would not be 
proper to have a committee whose special duty Avould be to confer 
as to ambiguities in the law imposing duties. He said that a great 
deal of Free Trade is accomplished through the agency of generali- 
ties and ambiguities in the revenue laws. This Association should 
take up the matter and appoint a committee, whose duty should be 
to confer with every branch of industry, so that it might indorse 
the applications of the various branches. These ambiguities in the 



law, so great that you can drive a four-horse wagon through it, 
make the difhculty. Mr. Kennedy was requested to embody his 
views in a resolution. 

The following resolution was then offered by Mr. Kennedy : 

Resolved, That the memorial just read be referred to the Executive Com- 
mittee of the American Iron and Steel Association, with the direction that 
it unite with the signers thereto, in behalf of this meeting, in furthering the 
special matter referred to therein ; and that, in any and every analogous case 
which may be referred to it, at any time, it shall act in like manner. 

Mr. Earnshaw suggested that the words, " when in their dis- 
cretion it may be deemed necessary," be added to the resolution. 
This was done, and the resolution was then referred to the Commit- 
tee on Resolutions. 

APPOINTMENT OF A BUSINESS COMMITTEE. 

On motion of Mr. Shinn, a business committee of nine was ap- 
pointed by the President, consisting of the following gentlemen : 
William P. Shinn, Pittsburgh ; S. P. Bowen, Plattsburgh, New 
York ; O. W. Potter, Chicago ; Oliver Williams, Catasauqua ; John 
W. Chalfant, Pittsburgh ; J. J. Spearman, Sharon, Pennsylvania ; 
W. E. C. Coxe, Reading, Pennsylvania ; Thomas Gogin, Boston ; 
J. D. Dubois, Wheeling. 

APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 

On motion of Hon. Willard Warner, of Alabama, a committee, 
consisting of eleven members, was appointed by the President, to 
which shall be referred all resolutions offered at this meeting:. 
The following gentlemen were appointed : Hon. Willard Warner, 
Alabama ; Hon. C. D. Hubbard, Wheeling ; William Means, Ohio ; 
Hon. J. K. Moorhead, Pittsburgh ; R. N. Gere, New York ; Henry 
McCormick, Harrisburg ; R. E. Blankenship, Richmond ; Cyrus 
Elder, Johnstown ; M. A. Hanna, Cleveland ; B. F. Jones, Pitts- 
burgh ; H. S. Chamberlain, Tennessee. 

DISTRIBUTION OF STATISTICS. 

The Secretary of the American Iron and Steel Association here 
distributed pamphlet copies of his Annual Report containing the 
statistics of the American iron trade for 1878. and preceding years. 

ADJOURNMENT TO DINNER. 

The meeting then adjourned, to meet at 2.30 P. M. 



34 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 

The afternoon session was called to order at 3.10. The Business 
Committee presented a report, which was read as follows : 

REPORT OF THE BUSINESS COMMITTEE. 

Your Committee on Business resj)ectful]y recommends the adoption of the 
following resolutions: 

Resolved, That the convention proceed to discuss the pending question of a 
modification and reduction of the tariff, which reduction would be liostile and 
injurious to tlie iron and steel interests of tliis country, and to ascertain the 
best mode of meeting tlie (juestion and averting dangers. 

Resolved, That, in tiie opinion of your committee, the American Iron and 
Steel Association should be upheld and its hands strengthened by more gen- 
eral contributions from the manufacturers and other parties interested. 

Resolved, That, in the discussion of tliese questions, speeches be limited to 
ten minutes, except with general consent, and that all formal resolutions be 
referred to the Committee on Resolutions without debate. 

Mr. Shinn. Mr. Chairman : The committee have considered the 
duty submitted to them, and have thought proper to set forth 
only in very general terms what, in their opinion, should be the 
business of the convention. The importance of dealing with the 
tariff question at this time is fully set forth in the President's 
address, and it seemed necessary for the committee only to bring 
the question formally before the convention. The object of the re- 
port is simply to present the matter for discussion, and to recom- 
mend a rule under which it should be discussed. We would, there- 
fore, be glad to hear from the members of the convention on the 
subjects therein presented. 

The recommendations of the committee were then read again. 

Mr. Shinn. Mr. Chairman : By way of furnishing a further 
subject for discussion, I would suggest that the Secretary make the 
statement referred to in your address this morning, as to the re- 
sources and needs of the American Iron and Steel Association. 

THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS ASK FOR INSTRUCTIONS. 

Mr. Elder. Mr. Chairman : Before the convention proceeds 
to other business, it has been suggested that the meeting does not 
give the Committee on Resolutions a sufficiently liberal charter. It 
has been suggested that it would be well for them to report resolu- 
tions expressive of the sense of this convention. I move that they 
be so instructed. This motion was agreed to. 



35 



Mr. Warner. Mr. Chairman : I would ask that the President 
Avould designate a place of meeting and request our committee to 
retire immediately. I make this further suggestion, that, if there 
be any member of the conveutiou who has prepared any resolution 
or any other matter, I would be glad if he would submit it to the 
chairman, or otherwise submit it, that we may have something to 
act upon from the beginning. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

The Secretary then made the following statement of the financial 
condition of the American Iron and Steel Association : 

The annual receipts of tlie Association have averaged for the past six years 
about $10,000, which sum has been derived almost wholly from assessments 
based upon tiie production of iron and steel by its members, and from annual 
dues from merchants and other non-producers in the iron trade. Tlie follow- 
ing schedule shows the rates of assessments for membership as last adopted, 
which are much less than were cheerfully paid for many years by those who 
organized the Association. 

One-half cent per ton of 2,000 lbs. on all Pig Iron produced. 

Three-fourths of one cent per ton on all Rolled or Wrought Iron produced. 

Two cents per ton on all Crucible Steel produced. 

One cent per ton on all Blister, German, and Puddled Steel produced. 

Three-fourths of one cent per ton on all Bessemer Steel produced. 

Three-fourths of one cent per ton on all Siemens-Martin Steel produced. 

One cent per ton on all Steel manipulated. 

Individuals, companies, or firms, engaged in mining coal or iron ore, pay 
$20 per year, and an annual assessment of 1 cent per twenty tons of 2,000 
pounds produced by their mines over 40,000 tons. 

Persons not included in the above classes may become members by paying 
an entrance fee of $2-5 and an annual contribution of 1)20. 

The weekly BuUelin, being sent free to all American iron and steel manu- 
facturers, and necessarily containing but few advertisements, is not a source of 
much revenue, the annual receipts on its account averaging less than $1,000, 
which sum forms part of the gross annual receipts of $10,000 already men- 
tioned. The annual expenditures of the Association have been for several 
years about as follows : 

Salaries of secretary, assistant secretary, and mail clerk, . . . $4,000 
Rent of oflBce and hire of janitress, ....... 900 

Postage, stationery, fuel, etc., 1*000 

Publication of the Bulletin, " . . . 2,000 

Annual Report and Directory, 2,000 

Traveling expenses, 100 

Planting and circulating of pamphlets, and work connected with 

tariff' legislation, 1,500 

$11,500 



36 



The annual expenses, it will be seen, have of late years exceeded the re- 
ceipts about $1,500, the deficit coming from a small surplus fund whicli was 
in the hands of the treasurer at the beginning of the panic in 1873. This 
surplus is now exhausted. 

Some remarks were made by Mr. Shinn and Mr. Swank concern- 
ing the amount of money that is necessary to continue and extend 
the work of the Association, and the best method of raising the 
requisite funds. 

A PAPER BY O. W. POTTER. 

Mr. O. W. Potter. Mr. Chairman : As I represent one of the 
delinquent firms, and have reduced to writing some criticisms on 
the Association, I would like to ask its indulgence while I read 
them. 

Permission being granted, Mr. Potter read his paper, which 
we do not print, but which we have not suppressed. The paper 
was taken from the hall of the convention by Mr. Potter. 

DISCURSIVE REMARKS BY SEVERAL GENTLEMEN. 

Mr. David Thomas, of Catasauqua, thought the tariff was not 
too high. He did not like to hear that our workingraen are in dis- 
tress. He did not know how much money iron manufacturers west 
of the mountains had made during the last few years, or what the 
profits of the steel men had been, but in his locality they had 
had nothing from their capital, having divided it all with the 
workmen. Some had even given more than the profits, and were 
poorer than they were five years ago. He did not believe it was 
true that the manufacturers had wronged their workmen. 

Mr. John M. Kennedy, of Philadelphia, thought the meeting 
had better get down to some definite proposition. He delivered an 
address in advocacy of a liberal currency policy for the country. 

Mr. Jo.seph Corns, of Ohio, followed Mr. Kennedy in an ad- 
dress in which he took strong ground in favor of additional protec- 
tion for some of our industries. 

The President suggested that the meeting should take up the 
report of the Business Committee, and dispose of that, either by 
adopting it or otherwise. If it was thought best to discuss it, that 
could be done; but it seemed to him that this discussion had become 
mere scolding. He didn't think the members could accomplish *re- 
form by calling each other hard names. The best way to accom- 
plish it would be by each one endeavoring to reform himself. Let 



37 



every man take to himself the advice he is giving to his neighbor. 
Let those who charge others with bad faith examine themselves, 
and see whether they have ever been similarly guilty. When we 
have done that, we will find we have not been betrayed by trusting 
our neighbors. 

A discussion followed, which was participated in by Messrs. Will- 
iams, Laughlin, Chalfant, Speer, and Shinn. 

The report of the Business Committee was then adopted. 

REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 

Hon. Willard Warner, from the Committee on Resolutions, sub- 
mitted the report of the Committee, which was read by Mr. Cyrus 
Elder. It is as follows : 

The manufacturers of iron and steel and miners of iron ore of 
the United States, in general convention assembled, express their 
conviction that the causes of the distress which, during more than 
five years past, has prevailed in all the walks of manufacturing in- 
dustry, and has been especially grievous in the iron and steel trade, 
have spent their force ; that the prolonged and apparently hopeless 
depression of business is past, and that there are signs of a return 
of healthful activity through which the country will again become 
prosperous. 

While all manufacturing countries have been alike sufferers, the 
condition of this country has been more tolerable, mainly because 
of the policy of Protection, which has preserved the home market 
for the products of native industry. It is largely owing to this 
beneficent policy that our country is the first to recover from the 
blow which prostrated all industrial nations, and begins to have 
confidence in the future, while our great rival. Free Trade England, 
is still- paralyzed and despondent. 

The policy of Protection has given to the United States an iron 
and steel industry which ranks as the second of the world. In this 
art of arts, which constitutes the strength and defense of nations, 
our country has developed within comparatively few years a pro- 
ficiency which it has cost other countries centuries to attain, and it 
has made inventions and improvements which are an honor to its 
artisans and a benefaction to the world. 

The iron and steel industry of the United States can no longer be 
reproached as local or sectional, for, under the moderate Protection 
it has received during the past eighteen years, it has become widely 



38 



distributed, its processes are conducted in most of the States, and its 
materials are drawn from all parts of the Union. It affords the 
agriculturist a profitable market, the carrier remunerative traffic, 
and it creates and sustains a multitude of allied and dependent in- 
dustries. Realizing the aspirations of Alexander Hamilton, it has 
made this country practically independent of foreign sources of sup- 
ply of the principal means of national defense, and is winning for 
itself a place in the markets of the world. It has cheapened rail- 
road materials, and thus promoted commerce throughout the vast 
extent of our country, and it has so improved these materials that 
traffic and travel have been rendered speedy, and there is a prac- 
tical immunity from accidents. It affi)rds employment to a multi- 
tude of workingmen, who otherwise would become tillers of the soil 
and swell the surplus of farm products, or would rust in idleness, a 
burden to themselves and a menace to society. 

The promoters of this industry, under conditions which, when 
favorable, have always lacked the quality of permanence, have had 
to take large risks ; the labors have been great, and the profits far 
from adequate. While the great fortunes made in commerce are 
comparatively numerous, the iron and steel industry can show but 
few. Its prospects are not now so promising as to invite new adven- 
turers, yet to those who have their means invested in it the pres- 
ent situation, if there was assurance that it would be maintained, 
offers a motive for renewed exertions, and the promise of moderate 
success. Under the condition of freedom from destructive foreign 
interference a home competition has been evolved which reduces 
profits to a minimum, and requires the utmost skill and economy 
and a constant effort to make improvements in machinery and pro- 
cesses. 

What is thus claimed for the iron and steel industry is also true 
of the other great manufacturing interests of the country. They 
also owe their marvelous development to the policy of Protection ; 
they have endured their full measure of distress during the era of 
depression ; and they are slowly but surely emerging from it, 
strengthened by its trials, and preparing to revive and advance 
the prosperity of the country. 

Owing to the tariff, there have been no such scenes of suffering in 
destitute communities here as have been witnessed, and may still 
be observed, abroad. 

Owing to the tariff, there has been but a partial suspension of our 
industries, which, otherwise, would have been general. 



39 



Owing to the tariff, our home markets are fully and cheaply sup- 
plied with all manufactured products. 

Owing to the tariff, more than any other cause, we are no longer 
a debtor nation ; the balance of trade has been and is steadily in 
our favor ; gold has ceased to bear a premium ; our bonds are re- 
turning to us and will not draw away our money for the payment 
of interest to foreigners ; and the credit of the government has be- 
come so assured that the public debt is readily refunded, at a lower 
rate of interest, in bonds that are eagerly sought for by our own 
people. 

We pronounce the situation hopeful. Hard as the conditions of 
our industry have been, and are still, we believe that we have fairly 
out-worn the severest stress. We do not claim sympathy, though 
we may deserve it ; we do not ask for aid, for we have the courage 
to help ourselves ; and the substance of what we request from our 
government may be briefly expressed : 

Do not now open our ports to the products of foreign labor, for 
the certain result will be to close many American mills and facto- 
ries, and to take away the bread of American workingmen. 

Do not check the healthful progress of our export trade, and 
disturb the wholesome condition of our exchanges with foreign 
countries. 

Refer the subject of tariff revision to a small and carefully 
chosen commission of legislators and business men, who alone 
shall be empowered to submit to Congress any proposed alteration 
in our tariff laws, after consultation with the interests to be affected 
by them. 

Refuse to entertain overtures for so-called reciprocity treaties, 
upon the ground that they invade the right of the lower House of 
Congress to initiate all financial legislation, that they are adverse to 
the interests of the people and of the public revenue, and contrary 
to the genius of our free government. 

THE DUTY ON TINPLATE. 

The Committee on Resolutions also submitted the following reso- 
lution : 

Resolved, That the memorial in relation to the duty on tinplate, and the 
resolution of Mr. Kennedy in regard to it, be referred to the Executive Com- 
mittee of the American Iron and Steel Association, to take such action as 
they may deem advisable. 



40 



DISCUSSION ON THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 

Mr. Warner, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, stated 
that the Committee had authorized the Secretary of the Association 
to add a j^aragraph in the address giving certain facts in regard to 
the amount of capital in the United States invested in the iron 
trade, the number of iron manufactories of all kinds, and the 
number of men employed in all the branches of the iron trade. 

After some discussion the President stated that it was the under- 
standing that the Secretary would publish the facts asked for, or 
such of them as he could obtain. 

Mr. Warner. I think these facts are important for the purpose 
of bringing before Congress and the country the fact that we iron- 
masters are not the parties so much interested, but that behind us 
are thousands and tens of thousands of laboring men who are the 
real beneficiaries. We want to get at the number of men and the 
number of mouths dependent on the iron industries of this country, 
the number of persons dependent upon it for houses, and homes, and 
food, and clothes, and shelter, and employment, and everything that 
makes life desirable. I think this is what we need to do in this 
tariff matter. We are called ironmasters, and are heads and tails 
of firms, and there are behind us the parties to be benefited. Mr. 
Warner continued, saying that the duty of the manufacturers was 
to educate their operatives by showing them where their interests 
lie, and through their votes reach and influence Congress. 

The report of the Committee on Resolutions was adopted. 

REMARKS BY VARIOUS GENTLEMEN. 

There being no particular business before the convention, several 
members were called upon to deliver addresses. Remarks were 
made by Messrs. Jones, Earushaw, Potter, Shinn, Spearman, Gen- 
eral Moorhead, Kennedy, Andrews, Chalfant, and Warner. 

RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS. 

Resolutions of thanks to the reporters of the press, and to the 
members of the Western Iron Association and the Western Nail 
Association for the use of their hall, were passed. 

On motion of Mr. Warner, the convention tendered its thanks 
to the President, Hon. Daniel J. Morrell, for his able address to- 
day, and for his long service in behalf of the iron trade of the 
country. 



41 



RESPONSE BY THE PRESIDENT. 



The President, I take this occasion to say that I am glad to 
see you here, as this is the first general meeting of the Iron and 
Steel Association that has been held for many years. I presume the 
reason the Executive Committee has not deemed it expedient to 
call the members together has been the depressed condition of the 
trade. It seemed hard to get men to give time to general matters 
when worrying over their own private affairs. Many officers of the 
Association found it difficult to give their time, but were willing to 
give their money, even though they had but little to give, rather 
than spare the time to look after the general interests. I hope this 
meeting will have the effect of arousing a more general interest, and 
bringing together the iron and steel men from all over the country, 
and also the producers of the materials of which these products are 
made. You will find advantages from the social intercourse that will 
spring up among you. As stated by the gentleman from Chicago, 
we have suffered from a feeling of depression and want of general 
confidence in each other. The more we are kept apart the more 
we are led to suspect that we are trying to undermine each other. 
The great difficulty has been that our own troubles have kept us 
away from each other, and the necessities of business have made us 
sell our goods cheaper than we ought to. It has been utterly im- 
possible for one man, or a half dozen men, to pretend to fix prices. 
There seemed to be no limit to the downward tendency, except the 
ultimate one — the cost of production. I have found as much fault 
with the prices some of our manufacturers accepted as did the gen- 
tleman from Chicago, but I could not blame them when I was told 
it was a matter of life and death. I think we have passed that 
point now, and reached the point where every metal manufacturer, 
and maker of steel and iron rails, can have something to say in fix- 
ing prices. For nearly five years the seller had no part in the bar- 
gain. He was compelled to take what the buyer was willing to 
give. His interests compelled him to sell — he had to sell. That is 
the reason some of us feel sore. I hope the time has come when 
we will be able to have more confidence in each other. As I said 
before, by each one trying to do exactly right, and trusting his 
neighbors, and believing they are doing right till we have found 
that they are doing otherwise, we shall have a better feeling, and 
can meet together more frequently and with greater usefulness to 
each other and the whole trade. 



42 



CONCLUDING PROCEEDINGS. 



Mr. Kennedy suggested the offering of a resolution in favor of 
more frequent meetings of the Association. 

Mr. Warner asked how far west the Association had gone. 

The President said the ftirthest western point, at which a meeting 
had been held, was Chicago. One meeting had been held at Cleve- 
land. He did not remember of any west of these places. 

Mr. Weeks, one of the Secretaries, said an attempt had been 
made to get the names of members present, and requested, if any 
had been missed, that they should hand in their names on cards 
which were distributed for that purpose. 

On motion, adjourned sine die. 



STATISTICS. 

In compliance with the request of the convention, the Secretary 
of the American Iron and Steel Association submits the following 
statement relative to the number of establishments engaged in the 
manufacture of iron and steel, the number of iron ore mines, the 
number of hands employed in operating these enterprises, the 
wages paid to them, the amount of capital invested in the mining 
of iron ore and in the manufacture of iron and steel, etc., etc. 
As no data for most of the information desired have been collected 
since the census of 1870, the figures for that year which are ger- 
mane to the scope of the inquiry are given in sufficient detail, and 
to these are added such known quantities and estimated values 
for 1878 as will, so far as they go, more satisfactorily comply with 
the wishes of the convention. 

The American Iron and Steel Association collects from year to 
year the statistics of the production of all kinds of iron and steel, 
and it records the prices obtained for leading products; it also 
publishes from time to time a classified list of the blast furnaces, 
rolling mills, etc., engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel ; 
but it does not seek to ascertain the amount of capital invested in 
these industries, the number of hands employed, nor the wages paid 
to them. We have found it to be sufficiently difficult to gather the 
statistical information for which we are annually willing to be held 
responsible, without undertaking for ourselves additional labors and 
subjecting our correspo'ndents to additional solicitation. This ex- 



43 



planation is given as an excuse, which we hope our friends of the 
convention will accept, for the meagreness of the following exhibit : 



PRODUCTS. 



Blooms 

Pig Iron 

Eolled Iron 

Nails and Tacks 

Steel 

Iron Ore 

Manufactured Iron 

and Steel 

Castings 



Hands 

Employed. 

1870. 



Total. 



2,902 

27,554 

44,662 

7,353 

2,437 

15,022 

203,305 
51,305 



Capital 

Invested. 

1870. 



Wages Paid. 
1870. 



Value of 

Materials. 

1870. 



$4,506,733 
56,145,326 
54,774,615! 
8,043,112: 
6,345,400 
17,773,935 

202,014,236 
67,578,961 



354,540 



$417,182,318 



$1,195,964 

12,475,250 

25,192,635 

3,721,099 

1,651,132 

6,838,022 



$5,685,466 
45,498,017 
79,176,646 
17,786,072 
5,166,003 
1,279,563 



92,576,-306 126,917,673 
28,835,914 48,222,550 



$329,731,990 



$172,486,322 



PRODUCTS. 


Value of 

Products. 

1870. 


Weight. 

Net Tons. 

1870. 


Weight. 
Net Tons. 

1878. 


Estimated 

Value. 

1878. 


Blooms 


$7,647,054 
69,640,498 
120,311,158 
23,101,082 
9,609,986 
13,204,138 

304,120,288 \ 
99,843,218 / 


110,808 


50,045 


$2,500,000 
50,000,000 


Pig Iron 


2,052,821 


2.577..361 


Boiled Iron 


est. 1,450,000: 1,335,769 

221,737iNails, 219,807 

49,757| 819,814 


62,000,000 


Nails and Tacks 

Steel 


10,000,000 
35.000.000 


Iron Ore 


4,494,704 5.3riOnoni 21.000.000 


Manufactured Iron 
and Steel 


Not given. 


Not 
ascertained. 


Not 


Castines 


ascertained. 


^ 




Total 


$647,477,422 


8,379,827 


10,352,796 


$180,500,000 





The number of blast furnaces in the United States at the begin- 
ning of 1879 was 692 ; rolling mills, 340 ; steel works, 71 ; forges 
and bloomaries for the manufacture of iron direct from the ore or 
from pig iron, 122. Total number, 1225. The number of estab- 
lishments engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel into all 
forms, including hardware, cutlery, castings, machinery, etc., in 
1870 was 36,063 ; the number of similar establishments in 1879 
is certainly not less than in 1870. 



NOTE. 

Iron and Steel Manufacturers and Iron Ore Producers who may 
desire copies of this pamphlet for distribution to their workmen and 
others are requested to advise the Secretary of the American Iron 
and Steel Association how many copies are required, who will for- 
ward them in a reasonable time. 



44 



MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION. 

The following list contains the names, so far as we were able 'to 
obtain them, of the gentlemen who were present at the convention : 



S. p. Burt, Eureka Iron Company, De- 
troit, Mich. 

O. W. Potter and Francis Hinton, North 
Chicago Rolling Mill Company, Chicago. 

Cyrus Elder, Cambria Iron Company, 
Johnstown, Pa. 

Willard Warner, Tecumseh Iron Company, 
Teciimseh, Ala. 

H. S. Chamberlain, Roane Iron Company, 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 

J. D. Dubois, Belmont Nail Works, Wheel- 
ing, W. Va. 

George D. Kelly, of Pierce, Kelly & Co., 
Sharpsville, Pa. 

Thomas Gogin, Norway Iron and Steel 
Works, Boston. 

Samuel L. Mather, Cleveland Iron Mining 
Company and McComber Iron Company, 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

W. H. Cobb, Aurora Iron and Nail Com- 
pany, Aurora, Ind. 

C. D. Hubbard, Wheeling Iron and Nail 
Company, Wheeling, W. "Va. 

A. B. Cornell, Himrod Furnace Company, 
Youngstown, Ohio. 

Wm. Means, Cincinnati, representing 
Means, Kyle & Co., Hanging Rock, Ohio. 

Samuel Mather, Humboldt Iron Company 
and Manganese Iron Ore Company, Lake 
Superior, Mich. 

Oliver Williams, Catasauqua Manufactur- 
ing Company, Catasauqua, Pa. 

Percival Roberts and Percival Roberts, 
Jr., Pencoyd Iron Works, Philadelphia. 

J.B. Moorhead, of J. B. Moorhead & Co., 
Philadelphia. 

John Stambaugh, Brier Hill Iron and 
Coal Company and Girard Iron Company, 
Youngstown, Ohio. 

Samuel Laughlin, Laughlin Nail Com- 
pany, Wheeling, W. Va. 

S. H. Woodward, La Belle Iron Works, 
Wheeling, W. Va. 

J. C. Lewis and Geo. S. Lewis, Ports- 
mouth Iron and Steel Company, Ports- 
mouth, Ohio. 

C. Boggs, Clearfield Fire Brick Company, 
Clearfield, Pa. 

Cleveland Steel Works, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Alexander Strausz, Irondale Furnace, 
Raccoon P. O., Preston county, W. Va. 

Joseph Corns, Corns Iron Company, Gi- 
rard, Ohio. 



John M. Kennedy, Bessemer Steel Com- 
pany Limited, Philadelphia. 

John M. Hartman, of Taws & Hartman, 
engineers, Philadelphia. 

Samuel Isett, Mt. Etna Iron Works, Yel- 
low Springs, Blair county. Pa. 

J. Wesley Pullman, Chester Iron Com- 
pany, ore dealers, and Andover Iron Com- 
pany, pig iron manufacturers, Philadelphia. 

C. A. Godcharles & Co., Milton, Pa. 
Henry McCormick, of McCorniick & Co., 

Harrisburg, Pa. 

R. E. Blankenship and Douglas Baird, 
Old Dominion Iron and Nail Works, Rich- 
mond, Va. 

W. E. C. Coxe, Philadelphia and Reading 
Coal and Iron Company, Reading, Pa. 

S. C. Baker, Allegheny Furnace and Al- 
toona Iron Company, Altoona, Pa. 

A. W. Campbell, Ben wood Iron Works, 
Wheeling. 

George Brooke, of E. & G. Brooke, Birds- 
boro, Berks county, Pa. 

Alonzo Loring, Benwood Iron Works, 
Wheeling, W. Va. 

Henry Wick, Youngstown Rolling Mill 
Company, Youngstown, Ohio. 

Charles Douglass, Gautier Steel Company 
Limited, Johnstown, Pa. 

S. R. Schmucker, Williamsburg, Blair 
county, Pa., representing John Royer, Cove 
Forge and Springfield Furnace. 

A. M. Robbins, Falcon Iron and Nail 
Company, Niles, Ohio. 

Abraham S. Patterson, of Harrisburg, 
Pa., representing Charles L. Bailey & Co., 
Chesapeake Nail Works, Central Iron 
Works, and Montgomery Iron Company. 

J. C. Fuller of Philadelphia, representing 
the South Mountain Mining and Iron Com- 
pany, Pine Grove Furnace, Cumberland 
county, Pa. 

J. King McLanahan, Hollidaysburg, Pa., 
producer of Bloomfield ore. 

D. C. Bradley, of Rhodes & Bradley, deal- 
ers in pig iron and iron ores, Chicago. 

John F. Lowry, of Hileman, Cook & Co., 
Callie Furnace, Alleghany county, Va. 

George F. Baer, Reading Iron Works, 
Reading, Pa. 

Charles I. Wickersham, iron merchant, 
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. 



45 



R. N. Gere and Charles E. Hubbell, Sy- 
racuse Iron Works, Syracuse, N. Y. 

A. C. Balden, Onondaga Iron Company, 
Geddes, N. Y. 

W. A. Sweet, Sweet's Manufacturing Com- 
pany and Sanderson Brothers' Steel Com- 
pany, Syracuse, N. Y. 

E. L. Brown, of Joseph H. Brown & Co., 
Chicago. 

C. H. Andrews, Youngstown, Ohio, rep- 
resenting Andrews & Hitchcock, Andrews 
Brothers, and the Westerman Iron Co. 

Frank S. Witherbee, of Port Henry, N. Y., 
representing Witherbees, Sherman & Co., 
iron ore dealers, and Cedar Point Iron 
Company, manufacturers of pig iron. 

H. M. Barry, of New York, representing 
Irondale Furnace, Preston county, W. Va. 

Nathaniel Ferguson, of Ferguson,White & 
Co., Robesonia Furnaces, Berks county. Pa. 

C. E. Bingham, of Cleveland, iron ore 
sales agent. 

J. W. Mumper, of Mumper & Co., Barree 
Forge, Pa. 

Alexander Laughlin, Laughlin Nail Com- 
pany, Wheeling, W. Va. 

J. J. Spearman, of Sharon, Pa., represent- 
ing Spearman Iron Company, Sharpsville, 
Mercer county. Pa. 

James F. Rhodes, of Cleveland, Ohio, rep- 
resenting the Tuscarawas Coal and Iron 
Company, Canal Dover, Ohio. 

J. Crowther, of New Castle, Pa. 

Thomas W. Kennedy, Struthers Furnace 
Company, Struthers, Ohio. 

M. A. Hanna, of Rhodes & Co., Cleve- 
land, Ohio, agents for Iron Cliffs Company 
and Michigamme Company, Lake Superior. 

Benjamin Fi.sher, of Wheeling, represent- 
ing Star Foundry, of Wheeling, W. Va., 
and Belfont Iron Works Company, of Iron- 
ton, Ohio. 

S. P. Bowen, of Plattsburgh, N. Y., repre- 
resenting Bowen & Signor, Saranac Iron- 
Works, Saranac, N. Y. 

J. C. Bayles, editor fron Age, New York. 

A. L. Crawford, of New Castle, Pa., repre- 
senting Vigo Iron Company, Terre Haute, 
Ind. 

James Denniston, Hollidaysburg and Gap 
Iron Company, Hollidaysburg, Pa. 

J. N. Vance, Riverside Iron Works, 
Wheeling, W. Va. 

D.' J. Morrell, Cambria Iron Company, 
Johnstown, Pa. 

James M. Swank, Philadelphia, Pa. 

David Thomas, Catasauqua, Pa. 

J. H. McCartney, Bellaire Nail Works, 
Bellaire, Ohio. 



W. W. HoUoway, ^tna Iron and Nail 
Company, Bridgeport, Ohi ). 

Jas. Cartwright and W. H. McCurdy, of 
Cartwright, McCurdy & Co., Youngstown, 
Ohio. 

Robert G. Bushnell, of New York, repre- 
senting Park, Bro. & Co. 

PITTSBURGHERS PRESENT. 

A. M. Byers, of A. M. Byers &. Co. 

M. K. Moorhead, of Moorhead & Co., and 
Moorhead, McCleaue & Co. 

Dr. C. G. Hussey, of Hussey, Howe & Co. 

Thomas C. Kier, of Kier Bros., fire brick. 

Calvin Wells, Pittsburgh Forge and Iron 
Company. 

Brown &. Co. 

Charles L. Caldwell 

James Laughlin, Jr., of Laughlin & Co., 
Eliza Furnaces. 

John Z. Speer, of Shoenberger & Co., and 
Shoenberger, Blair & Co. 

A. Laughlin, of Jones & Laughlins. 

C. C. Hussey, of Hussey, Howe & Co., and 
Hussey. Binns & Co. 
W. H. Everson, of Everson, Macrum & Co. 
C. L. Fitzhugh, of Shoenberger & Co. 

B. F. Jones, of Jones & Laughlins. 

A. McD. Bailey, of Wilson & Bailey, metal 
brokers. 

W. D. Wood, of W. D. Wood & Co., Mc- 
Keesport Iron Works. 

J. J. Young, of Hussey, Howe & Co. 

John W. Chalfant, Isabella Furnace Co. 

C. B. Herron, of Spang, Chalfant & Co. 
H. Lloyd, Jr., of Lloyd, Son &. Co. 

A. H. Childs, iron merchant. 

W. C. Croneraeyer, United States Iron 
and Tinplate Co. 

Wm. P. Shiun, Edgar Thomson Steel 
Company Limited. 

Reuben Miller, of Miller, Metcalf & Par- 
kin. 

John S. Slagle, of Nimick & Co. 

A. F. Keating, of Zug & Co. 

Jos. D. Weeks, Associate Editor Iron Age. 

Wm. Kent, of the American Manv/acturer. 

W. H. Singer, of Singer, Nimick & Co. 

D. Borland, of Phillips, Nimick & t^o. 
John Moorhead, representing J. & J. 

Rogers Iron Company and Red Bank Fur- 
nace. 

Charles A. Martin, of Loomis & Collord. 

J. P.'Witherow, of Witherow, Shepard & 
Lamond, engineers. 

John A. (aughey, of Caughey & Robin- 
son, furnace agents. 

John I. Williams, Pittsburgh. 

James McCutcheon, of Lindsay & Mc- 
Cutcheon. 



The People of this Country should insist upon the Continuance 
OF THE Protective Policy, under which all American Industries 
are Kevivinct and the Hard Times are Passing Away. 



PROCEEDINGS 



CONVENTION 



RON AND STEEL MANUFACTURERS 



IRON ORE PRODUCERS, 



AT PITTSBURGH, 



TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1879. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ASSOCIATION, 

No. 265 South Fourth Street. 
1879. 



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